Beaches in U.S. Host Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Researchers Find

A drug-resistant germ linked to surgical wound and urinary tract infections was found on five U.S. West Coast beaches, according to scientists who said the bacteria isn't usually seen outside of hospitals.
Samples of sand and water were taken from seven public beaches and a fishing pier in the state of Washington and southern California, according to a study reported today at a meeting of infectious diseases doctors in the nation's capitol. While the level of public risk is unknown, the beaches may help transmit the germ called enterococci, study authors said.

Though enterococci hasn't reached the level of methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, it's growing as a public-health threat and the findings suggest the germs may have moved out of hospitals and into the general population, said Marilyn Roberts, a study author,

``I think it's the tip of the iceberg,'' said Roberts, professor of public health at the University of Washington, Seattle, in a telephone interview. The resistant enterococci ``have almost always been associated with some kind of health- care facility before.''

Roberts presented the findings today at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci, also called VRE, were first reported in England and France in 1987, and found in New York City in 1989, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site.

People at higher risk of getting VRE include those treated with antibiotics for a long period of time, hospitalized patients, those with weakened immune systems, and those who have undergone abdominal or chest surgery, the CDC says.

Playing in Sand

If people with compromised immune systems, such as those who have undergone cancer therapy, play in sand with the bacteria, they could potentially contaminate themselves or their households, the researchers said.

``I can't imagine that anyone who plays on the beach doesn't come home with sand,'' Roberts said. Even if the whole bacterium doesn't survive, its genes could be transferred to other enterococci, mutating them, she said.

Enterococci caused about an eighth of all hospital infections in 2006 and 2007, according to the CDC. A third of those were VRE. The best way to prevent the spread of the bug is by hand washing.

``I think it's just a matter of time until we see more VRE outside hospitals,'' Roberts said. ``North America is not that different from Europe, where we know there have been outbreaks from infected animals that have gone to market.''